Insect Meaning
/ˈɪn.sɛkt/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn arthropod (in the Insecta class) characterized by six legs, up to four wings, and a chitinous exoskeleton.
nounAny small, creeping, crawling, or slithering animal, excluding mammals, birds, and fish.
Sentence Examples
What do you call this insect in English?
They are nature's laboratory for all kinds of plant, animal and insect life.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The tiny ____ with six legs and wings flew into the classroom through the open window.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A small ____ with bright green wings landed on the flower and began to drink the sweet nectar.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle French insecte, from Latin īnsectum, from īnsectus (“cut into, cut up, with a notched or divided body”), from perfect passive participle of īnsecō (“to cut into, to cut up”), from in- + secō (“to cut”), from the notion that the insect's body is "cut into" three sections (head, thorax, abdomen). Calque of Ancient Greek ἔντομον (éntomon, “insect”), from ἔντομος (éntomos, “cut into pieces”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Nonetheless, some insect prey take advantage of clutter by hiding in it. Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them."
— 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7:
"Ambroſe Parey has a picture of the ſalamander, with a receipt for her bite; but there is no ſuch creature, the name being now given to a poor harmleſs inſect."
— 1756, Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary Of The English Language: In Which The Words are Deduced from Their Originals, And Illustrated in Their Different Significations By Examples from the Best Writers, To Which Are Prefixed, A History of the Language, And An English Grammar : In Two Volumes, Volume 2, Knapton:
"The learned zoologiſt of our country concludes his labours in this ſcience by the preſent publication, which contains only cruſtaceous inſects, viz. crabs and lobſters, worms and ſhells."
— 1777, The critical review, or annals of literature, Volume 44, page 158:
"A slimy slow creeping animal, of the genus Helix, and order of Mollusca. The eyes of this insect are in the horns, one at the end of each, which it can retract at pleasure."
— 1832, Noah Webster, A Dictionary of the English Language: Intended to Exhibit: I. The Origin and the Affinities of Every English Word ... II. The Orthography and the Pronunciation of Words ... III. Accurate and Discriminating Definitions of Technical and Scientific Terms ... To which are Prefixed an Introductory Dissertation on the Origin, History, and Connection of the Languages of Western Asia and of Europe and a Concise Grammar, Philosophical and Practical, of the English Language, Volume 2, Black, Young, and Young, page 3:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The tiny ____ with six legs and wings flew into the classroom through the open window.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A small ____ with bright green wings landed on the flower and began to drink the sweet nectar.